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3 episodes with jeff randall
2 episodes with jeff randall
2 episodes with jeff randall
2 episodes with jeff randall
2 episodes with jeff randall
2 episodes with jeff randall
December 10, 2024 ~ Last weekend, HopCat held a Dan Campbell look alike contest. Jeff Randall, of Manchester won and joins Kevin to discuss the fun!
EPISODIO 232.Temporada 6-11 .EPISODIO PATROCINADO POR:CBM Clases de batería Madrid. https://clasesdebateriamadrid.com/ .Superdrummer Academy.www.simonefolcarelli.com .COMUNIDAD DEL CBM de Iñigo Iribarne:http://Clasesbateriaonline.com .EL MÉSTODO. https://t.me/unmetodoalmes/ .FORUM MUSIKAE - UNIVERSIDAD DE BATERÍA.https://www.forummusikae.com/profesorado/musica-moderna/departamento-de-bateria/ .Disco recomendado por Simone.Catriel e Paco Amoroso - Tiny Desk Concert:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kqnsoY94L8 .LIBRO RECOMENDADO por Iñigo.The Jazz Coordination Ritual de Henrique De Almeida https://hudsonmusic.com/product/the-jazz-coordination-ritual .TOP TRI.Simone:Casey Cangelosi: https://www.instagram.com/caseycangelosi/ .Gee Anzzalone: https://www.instagram.com/geeanzalone/ .Joe Farnsworth: https://www.instagram.com/joefarnsworthdrums/ .Iñigo:Jeff Randall: https://www.instagram.com/jeffrandalldrumming/ .Dave Previ: https://www.instagram.com/daveprevi/ . Tomy Sainz: https://www.instagram.com/tomassainzz/ .Síguenos en: FB: https://www.facebook.com/Drumless-el-Podcast-101614758071997 .INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/drumlesspodcast/ .TELEGRAM: https://t.me/drumlesspodcast .ABEL:https://www.instagram.com/kustomdk/ .SIMONE:https://www.simonefolcarelli.com .http://clasesdebateriaonline.com .IÑIGO:http://inigoiribarne.com .https://Clasesdebateriamadrid.com .https://www.twitch.tv/inigobatera .https://www.ellibrodelascorcheas.com .http://Clasesbateriaonline.com .http://insidethegrooveof.com/ .BUY US A COFFEEPaypal: https://www.paypal.me/inigoiribarne .Bizum: 606424669 .
EPISODIO 227.Temporada 6-6.EPISODIO PATROCINADO POR:CBM Clases de batería Madrid. https://clasesdebateriamadrid.com/ .Superdrummer Academy.www.simonefolcarelli.com .COMUNIDAD DEL CBM de Iñigo Iribarne:http://Clasesbateriaonline.com .Email diario de Iñigo Iribarne.https://inigobatera.activehosted.com/f/17 .EL MÉSTODO. https://t.me/unmetodoalmes/ .MOCATRIZ.https://youtu.be/gpvAAFp_dfg?si=MGmHWA4csGMDnw4f .Disco recomendado por Iñigo.Sing To The Moon de Laura Mvula: https://open.spotify.com/intl-es/album/6sWQlfb6ju6jG0z4oFPgVn?si=dTCWKB5lSQWeJvG54wrrdw .LIBRO RECOMENDADO por Simone .Progressive Steps to Bongo and Conga Drum Technique - Ted Reed: https://amzn.to/47Ti5aH .TOP TRI.Simone:Senri Kawaguchi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5YDxDuyKDI .Ofri Nehemya: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6wNk8qw1Xc .Jeff Randall: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7c8GWqmZu00 .Iñigo:Christine Neddens: https://www.instagram.com/christin.neddens/ .Aquiles Priester: https://www.instagram.com/aquilespriester/ .Kenny Aronoff: https://www.instagram.com/kennyaronoff/ .Síguenos en: FB: https://www.facebook.com/Drumless-el-Podcast-101614758071997 .INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/drumlesspodcast/ .TELEGRAM: https://t.me/drumlesspodcast .ABEL:https://www.instagram.com/kustomdk/ .SIMONE:https://www.simonefolcarelli.com .http://clasesdebateriaonline.com .IÑIGO:http://inigoiribarne.com .https://Clasesdebateriamadrid.com .https://www.twitch.tv/inigobatera .https://www.ellibrodelascorcheas.com .http://Clasesbateriaonline.com .http://insidethegrooveof.com/ .BUY US A COFFEEPaypal: https://www.paypal.me/inigoiribarne .Bizum: 606424669 .
The Dave Roush Show, featuring an in-depth interview with Jeff Randall.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/a1a-media-network. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
ESEE/RAT Pack Podcast Show Notes Episode 13 : Jungle Survival Class and History.Date Recorded: 7/19/2022Duration: 50minLocation: Adams' House Hosts:Shane AdamsPatrick RollinsLINK TO VIDEO VERSION OF THIS PODCAST WITH PHOTOS Summary: Episode 13 discusses our trips to the Amazon Jungle and their significance to ESEE Knives / Randall's Adventure & Training. This company was born on the floor of the Amazon Jungle and we discuss experiences, the lessons learned, and products that have come out of those times. We also announce that we have our first Jungle Survival Class on the calendar for the first time in several years. https://www.randallsadventure.com/training-courses/jungle-survival We will also have this episode up on our YouTube channel with MANY photos from previous trips. This one may be worth watching as well! Land Nav Class and COURSE CURRICULUM**Special Thanks to Reuben Bolieu, Mike Malner, Patrick, and Jeff Randall for their photo contributions.**PODCAST Link: (SHARE THIS)https://eseeratpack.buzzsprout.com Instagram Accounts:@patrickrollins230@shaneadams90@eseeknives@eseeratpackpodcast Links:www.eseeknives.comwww.randallsadventure.comwww.ratsar.orgESEE Forum YouTube Accounts:ESEE Knives/ Randall's Adventure & Training Facebook:Randall's Adventure & Training / ESEE KnivesOfficial FaceBook Group Tags:#esee, #eseeknives, #randallsadventure, #survival, #shotshow, #bushcraft, #survivalskills, #knives, #survivalknives, #randallsadventure, #podcast, #newpodcast, #randallsadventureandtrining, #jungletraining, #junglesurvival, #rainforest
ITC Entertained The World - Episode 15 (Season 2, episode 2) - Randall And Hopkirk (Deceased) Hosted by Jaz Wiseman, Rodney Marshall and Al Samujh. Jaz, Rodney and Al discuss Randall And Hopkirk (Deceased) - the 1968/69 ITC action/adventure series that starred Mike Pratt as Jeff Randall, Kenneth Cope as Marty Hopkirk and Annette Andre as Jean Hopkirk. Hear the Ghost Talk with contributions from Kenneth Cope and Annette Andre. Take a Sentimental Journey with our hosts as they investigate A Disturbing Case. They Can Always Find A Fall Guy, as they go undercover and learn to Never Trust A Ghost. As with all the previous ITC Entertained The World podcast it's All Work and No Pay and there's no Money To Burn as the podcast is free from adverts, free from sponsors and free to download. With thanks to Network and Umbrella.
06-06-22 show- Interviews with Fla. trop rocker Jeff Randall, and Lake Fest @ PIB performers Joe Downing (Fla.) & Johnny Russler (Chicago).Rain Jaudon reports from New Orleans. Lake Fest performers & Put in Bay songs in the playlist.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/a1a-media-network. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
ESEE/RAT Pack Podcast Show NotesEpisode 5: Dustin Hogard from Wazoo SurvivalDate Recorded: 3/12/22Duration: 1:11Location: ESEE Global HQ Hosts:Jeff Randall, Patrick Rollins, & Shane Adams Summary:Dustin Hogard, Co-owner of Wazoo Survival Gear sits down and talks with Jeff Randall, Patrick Rollins, and Shane Adams about the origins of Wazoo Survival Gear. He relates personal experiences that lead to the creation of many Wazoo products and the role that the original Jungle Forums played in his curiosity and skill acquisition early in life. Dustin is a well-traveled and well-spoken dude and shares some great stories. We hope you enjoy it and give our friends over at Wazoo Survival Gear a follow or visit their website at the link below.PODCAST Link: (SHARE THIS)https://eseeratpack.buzzsprout.com Instagram Accounts:@patrickrollins230@shaneadams90@eseeknives@wazoosurvivalgear@undercover.influencer Links:www.eseeknives.comwww.randallsadventure.comwww.ratsar.orgESEE ForumWazoo Survival GearWazoo Cache CapWazoo Bushcraft Necklace YouTube Accounts:ESEE Knives/ Randall's Adventure & Training Facebook:Randall's Adventure & Training / ESEE KnivesOfficial FaceBook Group Authors:My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George Tags:#esee, #eseeknives, #randallsadventure, #survival, #shotshow, #bushcraft, #survivalskills, #knives, #survivalknives, #randallsadventure, #podcast, #newpodcast, #randallsadventureandtrining, #wazoosurvivalgear, #wazoogear
In this podcast we discuss initial response to search incidents. We are joined by responders from Alabama, Tennessee, and North Carolina. Jeff Randall resides in Alabama and is involved in Search and Rescue with Randalls Adventure and Training Search and Rescue (RAT SAR) responding to incidents across Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, and North Carolina. https://ratsar.org/ Jeff Wadley resides in Tennessee and is a member of the Backcountry Unit Search and Rescue (BUSAR) which is based in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Jeff actively teaches lost person behavior courses throughout the region. https://teambusar.org/ Mike Street resides in Haywood County, NC and is a member of Haywood SAR and a Paramedic with Haywood Country EMS. https://www.facebook.com/HaywoodSAR David Walker resides in Haywood County, NC and is a member of Center Pigeon Fire Department and Haywood County SAR. Please reach out to us on your social media platforms by using the #pockettoolstraining or email us at pockettoolstraining@gmail.com
Patrick Rollins is the lead instructor for Randall's Adventure & Training and is part of the team at ESEE Knives. He developed his enthusiasm for the outdoors from an early age, growing up camping, hunting, fishing, and a member of the Boy Scouts before spending 19 years as a Sheriff's Deputy in Whitfield County, Georgia. Since then, he has taught numerous classes in the US and the Amazon jungles of Peru. Randall's Adventure & Training teaches survival, Bushcraft, land navigation, basic human tracking, single rope techniques, rope rescue, cave rescue, wilderness first responder, and Search and Rescue classes.Patrick is certified as a First Responder, Firearms Instructor, Glock Armorer, Rope Rescue Technician, Swiftwater Rescue Technician, and Wilderness First Responder. He has many hours of training in various skill sets, including woodland operations, wilderness survival training, land navigation, and tracking. He has been a Law Enforcement Instructor since 2001 and served on the Whitfield County Sheriff's Office Special Response Team (Entry and Sniper) from 2001 to 2004. Quotes:"Be adaptable.""Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.""Get out there and do it."Topics Discussed:5 Cs of survivability CuttingCombustionCordageContainerCoverPatrick's background & love of the outdoorsThe difference between Survival & BushcraftEsee's most popular knivesHow to get started in BushcraftDeciphering "good" informationThe start of Randall's Adventure & TrainingGear testing & customer feedback Knife steelsTesting the limits of gearFavorite knife styles and their applications Future company plansHow to manage ticks while in natureUnderstanding what a good knife isAre there too many outdoor companies?The outdoor class that everyone should takeThe "Glock" of knivesLife lessons from the outdoorsResources Mentioned:ESEE Knives Randall's Adventure & Training Ontario Knife CompanyRowen ManufacturingBlade ShowShot Show#beatereseeOsprey BackpacksJames Gibson2% for ConservationDave CanterburyVictorinox Swiss Army War Bonnet HammockBig Agnes Copper Spur TentBlack DiamondTactical Intent Book: Camping and Woodcraft by Horace KephartBook: Adventure Travel In The Third World by Jeff Randall & Mike Perrin Book: Bushcraft - Outdoor Skills and Wilderness Survival by Mors KochanskiPodcast: The Joe Rogan Experience Podcast: The Meat Eater
Punto Podcasts, bundan böyle dönem dönem mini serilerle karşınızda olacak! Bu serilerin ilkinde, konumuz Roman Abramovich ve Rus milyarderin kurduğu Chelsea imparatorluğuydu. Güner Çalış ve Mustafa Taha, bir hafta içinde yayınlanacak üç bölümle Abramovich'in futbol dünyasında yarattığı dev etkiyi, onun kendine has çalışma biçimini ve bu süreçte üçüncü kez kabuk değiştiren Chelsea'yi ele alıyorlar. Adaya Ayak Basış isimli bu bölümümüzde bahsi geçen yazılara aşağıdaki linkler aracılığıyla ulaşabilirsiniz. Paul Tomkins'in 2003 yazı harcamalarına dair analizi BBC'den Jeff Randall'ın 2003 yılından gözlemleri Steve Rosenberg'in Chukotka'ya gidişi Abramovich'in üç yıl sonra ilk kez röportaj vermesi Eriksson'un Chelsea'yi satın almasına yönelik telkini Tottenham ve Arsenal'dan vazgeçme nedenleri Punto'nun haftalık bültenlerine ücretsiz abone olmak için: https://apos.to/n/punto Punto'nun twitter adresi ise https://twitter.com/thepuntomag Kapak Görseli: Batuhan Çetin
Nick is joined by racing Broadcaster Rishi Persad to discuss today's hot racing topics. Plus words with Johnno Spence & Jeff Randall, in reaction to The Derby losing its sponsors. Also including a chat with the ROA's Sam Hoskins.
A panel of decluttering, organizing, packing, moving, appraisal and estate sale specialists discuss how you can organize you home to either age in place more successfully or downsize with ease. Featuring: Denise Lee, Carolyn Parmer, Kristen Lund, Jeff Randall
In 1999, with a passion for antiques, collectibles and helping others in need, Jeff and Regina Randall established an estate sale business in the St. Louis area. Regina grew up in West Virginia learning the trade from her parents and their antique store. Jeff's professional career, including estate planning for over 25 years, combined with Regina's experience helped mold a great relationship across the St. Louis community and the business took off. In 2013, Pennies In Your Pocket Estate Sales was recognized as having the largest percentage of growth in sales by the national organization EstateSales.NET. Regina and Jeff are certified personal property appraisers, members of CAGA (Certified Appraiser Guild of America)Two sons have joined the company full time now. Ford Randall began working for PIYP in 2012 and Noah Randall joined in a full time capacity in 2016. Jeff Randall, MBA, Webster University Regina Randall, BS, Recreation Management, Marshall University Ford Randall, UTI, Chicago Noah Randall, BS, Media Communications, Webster University.
Welcome to episode forty-eight of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs. This one looks at “Rock With the Caveman” by Tommy Steele, and the birth of the British rock and roll industry. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a bonus episode available. This one’s on “The Death of Rock and Roll” by the Maddox Brothers and Rose, in which we look at a country group some say invented rock & roll, and how they reacted badly to it —-more—- Resources As always, I’ve created a Mixcloud streaming playlist with full versions of all the songs in the episode. This double-CD set contains all Steele’s rock and roll material, plus a selection of songs from the musicals he appeared in later. This MP3 compilation, meanwhile, contains a huge number of skiffle records and early British attempts at rock and roll, including Steele’s. Much of the music is not very good, but I can’t imagine a better way of getting an understanding of the roots of British rock. Pete Frame’s The Restless Generation is the best book available looking at British 50s rock and roll from a historical perspective. Billy Bragg’s Roots, Radicals, and Rockers: How Skiffle Changed the World is one of the best books I’ve read on music at all, and covers Steele from the skiffle perspective. Fings Ain’t What They Used T’Be: The Life of Lionel Bart by David & Caroline Stafford gave me a lot of information on Steel’s songwriting partner. Steele’s autobiography, Bermondsey Boy, covers his childhood and early stardom. I am not 100% convinced of its accuracy, but it’s an entertaining book, and if nothing else probably gives a good idea of the mental atmosphere in the poor parts of South London in the war and immediate post-war years. And George Melly’s Revolt Into Style was one of the first books to take British pop culture seriously, and puts Steele into a wider context of British pop, both music and art. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript Let’s talk a little bit about the Piltdown Man. Piltdown Man was an early example of a hominid — a missing link between the apes and humans. Its skull was discovered in 1912 in Piltdown, East Sussex, by the eminent archaeologist Charles Dawson, and for years was considered one of the most important pieces of evidence in the story of human evolution. And then, in 1953, it was discovered that the whole thing was a hoax, and not even a particularly good one. Someone had just taken the jaw of an orang-utan and the top part of a human skull, and filed down the orang-utan teeth, and then stained the bones to make them look old. It was almost certainly the work of Dawson himself, who seems to have spent his entire life making fraudulent discoveries. Dawson had died decades earlier, and the full extent of his fraud wasn’t even confirmed until 2003. Sometimes researching the history of rock and roll can be a lot like that. You can find a story repeated in numerous apparently reliable books, and then find out that it’s all based on the inaccurate testimony of a single individual. The story never happened. It was just something someone made up. [Excerpt: “Rock With the Caveman”, Tommy Steele and the Steelmen] We talked a little while ago about the skiffle movement, and the first British guitar-based pop music. Today, we’re going to look at the dawn of British rock and roll. Now, there’s an important thing to note about the first wave of British rock and roll, and that is that it was, essentially, a music that had no roots in the culture. It was an imitation of American music, without any of the ties to social issues that made the American music so interesting. Britain in the 1950s was a very different place to the one it is today, or to America. It was ethnically extremely homogeneous, as the waves of immigration that have so improved the country had only just started. And while few people travelled much outside their own immediate areas, it was culturally more homogeneous as well, as Britain, unlike America, had a national media rather than a local one. In Britain, someone could become known throughout the country before they’d played their second gig, if they got the right media exposure. And so British rock and roll started out at the point that American rock and roll was only just starting to get to — a clean-cut version of the music, with little black influence or sexuality left in it, designed from the outset to be a part of mainstream showbusiness aimed at teenagers, not music for an underclass or a racial or sexual minority. Britain’s first rock and roll star put out his first record in November 1956, and by November 1957 he was appearing on the Royal Variety Show, with Mario Lanza, Bob Monkhouse, and Vera Lynn. That is, fundamentally, what early British rock and roll was. Keep that in mind for the rest of the story, as we look at how a young sailor from a dirt-poor family became Britain’s first teen idol. To tell that story, we first have to discuss the career of the Vipers Skiffle Group. That was the group’s full name, and they were just about the most important British group of the mid-fifties, even though they were never as commercially successful as some of the acts we’ve looked at. The name of the Vipers Skiffle Group was actually the first drug reference in British pop music. They took the name from the autobiography of the American jazz clarinettist Mezz Mezzrow — a man who was better known in the jazz community as a dope dealer than as a musician; so much so that “Mezz” itself became slang for marijuana, while “viper” became the name for dope smokers, as you can hear in this recording by Stuff Smith, in which he sings that he “dreamed about a reefer five foot long/Mighty Mezz but not too strong”. [Excerpt: Stuff Smith, “You’se a Viper”] So when Wally Whyton, Johnny Booker, and Jean Van Den Bosch formed a guitar trio, they chose that name, even though as it turned out none of them actually smoked dope. They just thought it sounded cool. They started performing at a cafe called the 2is (two as in the numeral, I as in the letter), and started to build up something of a reputation — to the point that Lonnie Donegan started nicking their material. Whyton had taken an old sea shanty, “Sail Away Ladies”, popularised by the country banjo player Uncle Dave Macon, and rewritten it substantially, turning it into “Don’t You Rock Me Daddy-O”. Donegan copyrighted Whyton’s song as soon as he heard it, and rushed out his version of it, but the Vipers put out their own version too, and the two chased each other up the charts. Donegan’s charted higher, but the Vipers ended up at a respectable number ten: [Excerpt: The Vipers, “Don’t You Rock Me, Daddy-O”] That recording was on Parlophone records, and was produced by a young producer who normally did comedy and novelty records, named George Martin. We’ll be hearing more about him later on. But at the time we’re talking about, the Vipers had not yet gained a recording contract, and they were still playing the 2is. Occasionally, they would be joined on stage by a young acquaintance named Thomas Hicks. Hicks was a merchant seaman, and was away at sea most of the time, and so was never a full part of the group, but even though he didn’t care much for skiffle — he was a country and western fan first and foremost — he played guitar, and in Britain in 1955 and 56, if you played guitar, you played skiffle. Hicks had come from an absolutely dirt-poor background. Three of his siblings had died at cruelly young ages, and young Thomas himself had had several brushes with ill health, which meant that while he was a voracious reader he had lacked formal education. He had wanted to be a performer from a very early age, and had developed a routine that he used to do around the pubs in his early teens, in which he would mime to a record by Danny Kaye, “Knock on Wood”: [Excerpt: Danny Kaye, “Knock on Wood”] But at age fifteen he had joined the Merchant Navy. This isn’t the same thing as the Royal Navy, but rather is the group of commercial shipping companies that provide non-military shipping, and Hicks worked as wait staff on a cruise ship making regular trips to America. On an early trip, he fell in love with the music of Hank Williams, who would remain a favourite of his for the rest of his life, and he particularly loved the song “Kaw-Liga”: [Excerpt: Hank Williams, “Kaw-Liga”] Hicks replaced his old party piece of miming to Danny Kaye with a new one of singing “Kaw-Liga”, with accompaniment from anyone he could persuade to play guitar for him. Eventually one of his crewmates taught him how to play the song himself, and he started performing with pick-up groups, singing Hank Williams songs, whenever he was on shore leave in the UK. And when he couldn’t get a paid gig he’d head to the 2is and sing with the Vipers. But then came the event that changed his life. Young Tommy Hicks, with his love of country music, was delighted when on shore leave in 1955 to see an advert for a touring show based on the Grand Ole Opry, in Norfolk Virginia, where he happened to be. Of course he went along, and there he saw something that made a huge impression. One of the acts in the middle of the bill was a young man who wore horn-rimmed glasses. Tommy still remembers the details to this day. The young man came out and did a three-song set. The first song was a standard country song, but the second one was something else; something that hit like a bolt of lightning: [Excerpt: Buddy Holly, “Peggy Sue”] That song was young Thomas Hicks’ introduction to the new music called rock and roll, and nothing would ever be the same for him ever again after seeing Buddy Holly sing “Peggy Sue”. By February 1956 he had finished working on the cruise ships, and was performing rock and roll in London, the very first British rock and roller. Except… There’s a reason why we’re covering Tommy Steele *before* Buddy Holly, the man who he claims as his inspiration. Buddy Holly *did* perform with a Grand Ole Opry tour. But it didn’t tour until May 1956, three months after Thomas Hicks quit his job on the cruise ships, and about a year after the time Tommy claims to have seen him. That tour only hit Oklahoma, which is landlocked, and didn’t visit Norfolk Virginia. According to various timelines put together by people like the Buddy Holly Centre in Lubbock Texas, Holly didn’t perform outside Lubbock until that tour, and that’s the only time he did perform outside West Texas until 1957. Also, Buddy Holly didn’t meet Peggy Sue Gerron, the woman who gave the song its name, until 1956, and the song doesn’t seem to have been written until 1957. So whatever it was that introduced young Tommy Hicks to the wonders of rock and roll, it wasn’t seeing Buddy Holly sing “Peggy Sue” in Norfolk Virginia in 1955. But that’s the story that’s in his autobiography, and that’s the story that’s in every other source I’ve seen on the subject, because they’re all just repeating what he said, on the assumption that he’d remember something like that, something which was so important in his life and future career. Remember what I said at the beginning, about rock and roll history being like dealing with Piltdown Man? Yeah. There are a lot of inaccuracies in the life story of Thomas Hicks, who became famous under the name Tommy Steele. Anything I tell you about him is based on information he put out, and that information is not always the truth, so be warned. For example, when he started his career, he claimed he’d worked his way up on the cruise ships to being a gymnastics instructor — something that the shipping federation denied to the press. You find a lot of that kind of thing when you dig into Steele’s stories. In fact, by the time Hicks started performing, there had already been at least one British rock and roll record made. He wasn’t bringing something new that he’d discovered in America at all. “Rock Around the Clock”, the Bill Haley film, had played in UK cinemas at around the time of Hicks’ supposed epiphany, and it had inspired a modern jazz drummer, Tony Crombie, to form Tony Crombie and the Rockets and record a Bill Haley soundalike called “Teach You To Rock”: [Excerpt: Tony Crombie and the Rockets, “Teach You To Rock”] However, Crombie was not teen idol material — a serious jazz drummer in his thirties, he soon went back to playing bebop, and has largely been written out of British rock history since, in favour of Tommy Steele as the first British rock and roller. Thomas Hicks the merchant seaman became Tommy Steele the pop idol as a result of a chance meeting. Hicks went to a party with a friend, and the host was a man called Lionel Bart, who was celebrating because he’d just sold his first song, to the bandleader Bill Cotton. No recording of that song seems to exist, but the lyrics to the song — a lament about the way that old-style cafes were being replaced by upscale coffee bars — are quoted in a biography of Bart: “Oh for a cup of tea, instead of a cuppuchini/What would it mean to me, just one little cup so teeny!/You ask for some char and they reckon you’re barmy/Ask for a banger, they’ll give you salami/Oh for the liquid they served in the Army/Just a cup of tea!” Heartrending stuff, I’m sure you’ll agree. But Bart was proud of the twenty-five guineas the song had earned him, and so he was having a party. Bart was at the centre of a Bohemian crowd in Soho, and the party was held at a squat where Bart, a card-carrying member of the Communist Party, spent most of his time. At that squat at various times around this period lived, among others, the playwright John Antrobus, the actor Shirley Eaton, who would later become famous as the woman painted gold in the beginning of Goldfinger, and the great folk guitarist Davey Graham, who would later become famous for his instrumental, “Angi”: [Excerpt: Davey Graham, “Angi”] We’ll hear more about Graham in future episodes. Another inhabitant of the squat was Mike Pratt, a guitarist and pianist who would later turn to acting and become famous as Jeff Randall in the fantasy detective series Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased). Hicks, Bart, and Pratt started collaborating on songs together — Hicks would bring in a basic idea, and then Bart would write the lyrics and Pratt the music. They also performed as The Cavemen, though Bart soon tired of playing washboard and stuck to writing. The Cavemen became a floating group of musicians, centred around Hicks and Pratt, and with various Vipers and other skifflers pulled in as and when they were available. The various skiffle musicians looked down on Hicks, because of his tendency to want to play “Heartbreak Hotel” or “Blue Suede Shoes” rather than “Bring a Little Water Sylvie” or “Rock Island Line”, but a gig was a gig, and they had to admit that Hicks seemed to go down well with the young women in the audience. Two minor music industry people, Bill Varley and Roy Tuvey, agreed to manage Hicks, but they decided that they needed someone involved who would be able to publicise Hicks, so they invited John Kennedy, a PR man from New Zealand, to come to the 2is to see him. Hicks wasn’t actually playing the 2is the night in question – it was the Vipers, who were just on the verge of getting signed and recording their first single: [Excerpt: The Vipers Skiffle Group, “Ain’t You Glad?”] While Hicks wasn’t scheduled to play, at the request of Varley and Tuvey he jumped on stage when the Vipers took a break, and sang a song that he, Bart, and Pratt had written, called “Rock With the Caveman”. Kennedy was impressed. He was impressed enough, in fact, that he brought in a friend, Larry Parnes, who would go on to become the most important manager in British rock and roll in the fifties and early sixties. Kennedy, Parnes, and Hicks cut Varley and Tuvey out altogether — to the extent that neither of them are even mentioned in the version of this story in Tommy Steele’s autobiography. Hicks was renamed Tommy Steele, in a nod to his paternal grandfather Thomas Stil-Hicks (the Stil in that name is spelled either Stil or Stijl, depending on which source you believe) and Parnes would go on to name a whole host of further rock stars in a similar manner — Duffy Power, Johnny Gentle, Billy Fury, Marty Wilde. They had everything except a record contract, but that was why Kennedy was there. Kennedy rented a big house, and hired a load of showgirls, models, and sex workers to turn up for a party and bring their boyfriends. They were to dress nicely, talk in fake posh accents, and if anyone asked who they were they were to give fake double-barrelled names. He then called the press and said it was “the first high society rock and roll show” and that the girls were all debutantes. The story made the newspapers, and got Steele national attention. Steele was signed by Decca records, where Hugh Mendl, the producer of “Rock Island Line”, was so eager to sign him that he didn’t check if any studios were free for his audition, and so Britain’s first homegrown rock idol auditioned for his record contract in the gents’ toilets. A bunch of slumming jazz musicians, including Dave Lee, the pianist with the Dankworth band, and the legendary saxophone player Ronnie Scott, were brought in to record “Rock With the Caveman”: [Excerpt: Tommy Steele, “Rock With the Caveman”] The single went to number thirteen. Tommy Steele was now a bona fide rock and roll star, at least in the UK. The next record, “Elevator Rock”, didn’t do so well, however: [Excerpt: Tommy Steele, “Elevator Rock”] That failed to chart, so Steele’s producers went for the well-worn trick in British record making of simply copying a US hit. Guy Mitchell had just released “Singing the Blues”: [Excerpt: Guy Mitchell, “Singing the Blues”] That was actually a cover version of a recording by Marty Robbins from earlier in the year, but Mitchell’s version was the one that became the big hit. And Steele was brought into the studio to record a soundalike version, and hopefully get it out before Mitchell’s version hit the charts. Steele’s version has an identical arrangement and sound to Mitchell’s, except that Steele sings it in an incredibly mannered Elvis impression: [Excerpt: Tommy Steele, “Singing the Blues”] Now, to twenty-first century ears, Steele’s version is clearly inferior. But here was the birth of something particularly English — and indeed something particularly London — in rock and roll music. The overly mannered, music-hall inspired, Cockneyfied impression of an American singing style. On Steele’s subsequent tour, a nine-year old kid called David Jones, who would later change his name to Bowie, went to see him and came away inspired to become a rock and roll star. And we can hear in this performance the roots of Bowie’s own London take on Elvis, as we can also hear a style that would be taken up by Anthony Newley, Ray Davies, and many more masters of Cockney archness. I don’t think “Singing the Blues” is a particularly good record compared to Mitchell’s, but it is a prototype for something that would become good, and it deserves recognition for that. Mitchell’s version got out first, and went to the top of the charts, with Steele’s following close behind, but then for one week Mitchell’s record label had a minor distribution problem, and Steele took over the top spot, before Mitchell’s record returned to number one the next week. Tommy Steele had become the first British rock and roll singer to get to number one in the UK charts. It would be the only time he would do so, but it was enough. He was a bona fide teen idol. He was so big, in fact, that even his brother, Colin Hicks, became a minor rock and roll star himself off the back of his brother’s success: [Excerpt: Colin Hicks and the Cabin Boys, “Hollering and Screaming”] The drummer on that record, Jimmy Nicol, later had his fifteen minutes of fame when Ringo Starr got tonsilitis just before a tour of Australia, and for a few shows Nicol got to be a substitute Beatle. Very soon, Tommy Steele moved on into light entertainment. First he moved into films — starting with “The Tommy Steele Story”, a film based on his life, for which he, Bart, and Pratt wrote all twelve of the songs in a week to meet the deadline, and then he went into stage musicals. Within a year, he had given up on rock and roll altogether. But rock and roll hadn’t *quite* given up on him. While Steele was appearing in stage musicals, one was also written about him — a hurtful parody of his life, which he claimed later he’d wanted to sue over. In Expresso Bongo, a satire of the British music industry, Steele was parodied as “Bongo Herbert”, who rises to fame with no talent whatsoever. That stage musical was then rewritten for a film version, with the satire taken out of it, so it was a straight rags-to-riches story. It was made into a vehicle for another singer who had been a regular at the 2is, and whose backing band was made up of former members of the Vipers Skiffle Group: [Excerpt: Cliff Richard, “Love” (from Expresso Bongo)] We’ll talk about both Cliff Richard and the Shadows in future episodes though… Tommy Steele would go on to become something of a national treasure, working on stage with Gene Kelly and on screen with Fred Astaire, writing several books, having a minor artistic career as a sculptor, and touring constantly in pantomimes and musicals. At age eighty-two he still tours every year, performing as Scrooge in a stage musical version of A Christmas Carol. His 1950s hits remain popular enough in the UK that a compilation of them went to number twenty-two in the charts in 2009. He may not leave a large body of rock and roll work, but without him, there would be no British rock and roll industry as we know it, and the rest of this history would be very different.
Welcome to episode forty-eight of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs. This one looks at "Rock With the Caveman" by Tommy Steele, and the birth of the British rock and roll industry. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a bonus episode available. This one's on "The Death of Rock and Roll" by the Maddox Brothers and Rose, in which we look at a country group some say invented rock & roll, and how they reacted badly to it ----more---- Resources As always, I've created a Mixcloud streaming playlist with full versions of all the songs in the episode. This double-CD set contains all Steele's rock and roll material, plus a selection of songs from the musicals he appeared in later. This MP3 compilation, meanwhile, contains a huge number of skiffle records and early British attempts at rock and roll, including Steele's. Much of the music is not very good, but I can't imagine a better way of getting an understanding of the roots of British rock. Pete Frame's The Restless Generation is the best book available looking at British 50s rock and roll from a historical perspective. Billy Bragg's Roots, Radicals, and Rockers: How Skiffle Changed the World is one of the best books I've read on music at all, and covers Steele from the skiffle perspective. Fings Ain't What They Used T'Be: The Life of Lionel Bart by David & Caroline Stafford gave me a lot of information on Steel's songwriting partner. Steele's autobiography, Bermondsey Boy, covers his childhood and early stardom. I am not 100% convinced of its accuracy, but it's an entertaining book, and if nothing else probably gives a good idea of the mental atmosphere in the poor parts of South London in the war and immediate post-war years. And George Melly's Revolt Into Style was one of the first books to take British pop culture seriously, and puts Steele into a wider context of British pop, both music and art. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript Let's talk a little bit about the Piltdown Man. Piltdown Man was an early example of a hominid -- a missing link between the apes and humans. Its skull was discovered in 1912 in Piltdown, East Sussex, by the eminent archaeologist Charles Dawson, and for years was considered one of the most important pieces of evidence in the story of human evolution. And then, in 1953, it was discovered that the whole thing was a hoax, and not even a particularly good one. Someone had just taken the jaw of an orang-utan and the top part of a human skull, and filed down the orang-utan teeth, and then stained the bones to make them look old. It was almost certainly the work of Dawson himself, who seems to have spent his entire life making fraudulent discoveries. Dawson had died decades earlier, and the full extent of his fraud wasn't even confirmed until 2003. Sometimes researching the history of rock and roll can be a lot like that. You can find a story repeated in numerous apparently reliable books, and then find out that it's all based on the inaccurate testimony of a single individual. The story never happened. It was just something someone made up. [Excerpt: "Rock With the Caveman", Tommy Steele and the Steelmen] We talked a little while ago about the skiffle movement, and the first British guitar-based pop music. Today, we're going to look at the dawn of British rock and roll. Now, there's an important thing to note about the first wave of British rock and roll, and that is that it was, essentially, a music that had no roots in the culture. It was an imitation of American music, without any of the ties to social issues that made the American music so interesting. Britain in the 1950s was a very different place to the one it is today, or to America. It was ethnically extremely homogeneous, as the waves of immigration that have so improved the country had only just started. And while few people travelled much outside their own immediate areas, it was culturally more homogeneous as well, as Britain, unlike America, had a national media rather than a local one. In Britain, someone could become known throughout the country before they'd played their second gig, if they got the right media exposure. And so British rock and roll started out at the point that American rock and roll was only just starting to get to -- a clean-cut version of the music, with little black influence or sexuality left in it, designed from the outset to be a part of mainstream showbusiness aimed at teenagers, not music for an underclass or a racial or sexual minority. Britain's first rock and roll star put out his first record in November 1956, and by November 1957 he was appearing on the Royal Variety Show, with Mario Lanza, Bob Monkhouse, and Vera Lynn. That is, fundamentally, what early British rock and roll was. Keep that in mind for the rest of the story, as we look at how a young sailor from a dirt-poor family became Britain's first teen idol. To tell that story, we first have to discuss the career of the Vipers Skiffle Group. That was the group's full name, and they were just about the most important British group of the mid-fifties, even though they were never as commercially successful as some of the acts we've looked at. The name of the Vipers Skiffle Group was actually the first drug reference in British pop music. They took the name from the autobiography of the American jazz clarinettist Mezz Mezzrow -- a man who was better known in the jazz community as a dope dealer than as a musician; so much so that "Mezz" itself became slang for marijuana, while "viper" became the name for dope smokers, as you can hear in this recording by Stuff Smith, in which he sings that he "dreamed about a reefer five foot long/Mighty Mezz but not too strong". [Excerpt: Stuff Smith, "You'se a Viper"] So when Wally Whyton, Johnny Booker, and Jean Van Den Bosch formed a guitar trio, they chose that name, even though as it turned out none of them actually smoked dope. They just thought it sounded cool. They started performing at a cafe called the 2is (two as in the numeral, I as in the letter), and started to build up something of a reputation -- to the point that Lonnie Donegan started nicking their material. Whyton had taken an old sea shanty, "Sail Away Ladies", popularised by the country banjo player Uncle Dave Macon, and rewritten it substantially, turning it into "Don't You Rock Me Daddy-O". Donegan copyrighted Whyton's song as soon as he heard it, and rushed out his version of it, but the Vipers put out their own version too, and the two chased each other up the charts. Donegan's charted higher, but the Vipers ended up at a respectable number ten: [Excerpt: The Vipers, "Don't You Rock Me, Daddy-O"] That recording was on Parlophone records, and was produced by a young producer who normally did comedy and novelty records, named George Martin. We'll be hearing more about him later on. But at the time we're talking about, the Vipers had not yet gained a recording contract, and they were still playing the 2is. Occasionally, they would be joined on stage by a young acquaintance named Thomas Hicks. Hicks was a merchant seaman, and was away at sea most of the time, and so was never a full part of the group, but even though he didn't care much for skiffle -- he was a country and western fan first and foremost -- he played guitar, and in Britain in 1955 and 56, if you played guitar, you played skiffle. Hicks had come from an absolutely dirt-poor background. Three of his siblings had died at cruelly young ages, and young Thomas himself had had several brushes with ill health, which meant that while he was a voracious reader he had lacked formal education. He had wanted to be a performer from a very early age, and had developed a routine that he used to do around the pubs in his early teens, in which he would mime to a record by Danny Kaye, "Knock on Wood": [Excerpt: Danny Kaye, "Knock on Wood"] But at age fifteen he had joined the Merchant Navy. This isn't the same thing as the Royal Navy, but rather is the group of commercial shipping companies that provide non-military shipping, and Hicks worked as wait staff on a cruise ship making regular trips to America. On an early trip, he fell in love with the music of Hank Williams, who would remain a favourite of his for the rest of his life, and he particularly loved the song "Kaw-Liga": [Excerpt: Hank Williams, "Kaw-Liga"] Hicks replaced his old party piece of miming to Danny Kaye with a new one of singing "Kaw-Liga", with accompaniment from anyone he could persuade to play guitar for him. Eventually one of his crewmates taught him how to play the song himself, and he started performing with pick-up groups, singing Hank Williams songs, whenever he was on shore leave in the UK. And when he couldn't get a paid gig he'd head to the 2is and sing with the Vipers. But then came the event that changed his life. Young Tommy Hicks, with his love of country music, was delighted when on shore leave in 1955 to see an advert for a touring show based on the Grand Ole Opry, in Norfolk Virginia, where he happened to be. Of course he went along, and there he saw something that made a huge impression. One of the acts in the middle of the bill was a young man who wore horn-rimmed glasses. Tommy still remembers the details to this day. The young man came out and did a three-song set. The first song was a standard country song, but the second one was something else; something that hit like a bolt of lightning: [Excerpt: Buddy Holly, "Peggy Sue"] That song was young Thomas Hicks' introduction to the new music called rock and roll, and nothing would ever be the same for him ever again after seeing Buddy Holly sing "Peggy Sue". By February 1956 he had finished working on the cruise ships, and was performing rock and roll in London, the very first British rock and roller. Except... There's a reason why we're covering Tommy Steele *before* Buddy Holly, the man who he claims as his inspiration. Buddy Holly *did* perform with a Grand Ole Opry tour. But it didn't tour until May 1956, three months after Thomas Hicks quit his job on the cruise ships, and about a year after the time Tommy claims to have seen him. That tour only hit Oklahoma, which is landlocked, and didn't visit Norfolk Virginia. According to various timelines put together by people like the Buddy Holly Centre in Lubbock Texas, Holly didn't perform outside Lubbock until that tour, and that's the only time he did perform outside West Texas until 1957. Also, Buddy Holly didn't meet Peggy Sue Gerron, the woman who gave the song its name, until 1956, and the song doesn't seem to have been written until 1957. So whatever it was that introduced young Tommy Hicks to the wonders of rock and roll, it wasn't seeing Buddy Holly sing "Peggy Sue" in Norfolk Virginia in 1955. But that's the story that's in his autobiography, and that's the story that's in every other source I've seen on the subject, because they're all just repeating what he said, on the assumption that he'd remember something like that, something which was so important in his life and future career. Remember what I said at the beginning, about rock and roll history being like dealing with Piltdown Man? Yeah. There are a lot of inaccuracies in the life story of Thomas Hicks, who became famous under the name Tommy Steele. Anything I tell you about him is based on information he put out, and that information is not always the truth, so be warned. For example, when he started his career, he claimed he'd worked his way up on the cruise ships to being a gymnastics instructor -- something that the shipping federation denied to the press. You find a lot of that kind of thing when you dig into Steele's stories. In fact, by the time Hicks started performing, there had already been at least one British rock and roll record made. He wasn't bringing something new that he'd discovered in America at all. "Rock Around the Clock", the Bill Haley film, had played in UK cinemas at around the time of Hicks' supposed epiphany, and it had inspired a modern jazz drummer, Tony Crombie, to form Tony Crombie and the Rockets and record a Bill Haley soundalike called "Teach You To Rock": [Excerpt: Tony Crombie and the Rockets, "Teach You To Rock"] However, Crombie was not teen idol material -- a serious jazz drummer in his thirties, he soon went back to playing bebop, and has largely been written out of British rock history since, in favour of Tommy Steele as the first British rock and roller. Thomas Hicks the merchant seaman became Tommy Steele the pop idol as a result of a chance meeting. Hicks went to a party with a friend, and the host was a man called Lionel Bart, who was celebrating because he'd just sold his first song, to the bandleader Bill Cotton. No recording of that song seems to exist, but the lyrics to the song -- a lament about the way that old-style cafes were being replaced by upscale coffee bars -- are quoted in a biography of Bart: "Oh for a cup of tea, instead of a cuppuchini/What would it mean to me, just one little cup so teeny!/You ask for some char and they reckon you're barmy/Ask for a banger, they'll give you salami/Oh for the liquid they served in the Army/Just a cup of tea!" Heartrending stuff, I'm sure you'll agree. But Bart was proud of the twenty-five guineas the song had earned him, and so he was having a party. Bart was at the centre of a Bohemian crowd in Soho, and the party was held at a squat where Bart, a card-carrying member of the Communist Party, spent most of his time. At that squat at various times around this period lived, among others, the playwright John Antrobus, the actor Shirley Eaton, who would later become famous as the woman painted gold in the beginning of Goldfinger, and the great folk guitarist Davey Graham, who would later become famous for his instrumental, “Angi”: [Excerpt: Davey Graham, “Angi”] We'll hear more about Graham in future episodes. Another inhabitant of the squat was Mike Pratt, a guitarist and pianist who would later turn to acting and become famous as Jeff Randall in the fantasy detective series Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased). Hicks, Bart, and Pratt started collaborating on songs together -- Hicks would bring in a basic idea, and then Bart would write the lyrics and Pratt the music. They also performed as The Cavemen, though Bart soon tired of playing washboard and stuck to writing. The Cavemen became a floating group of musicians, centred around Hicks and Pratt, and with various Vipers and other skifflers pulled in as and when they were available. The various skiffle musicians looked down on Hicks, because of his tendency to want to play "Heartbreak Hotel" or "Blue Suede Shoes" rather than "Bring a Little Water Sylvie" or "Rock Island Line", but a gig was a gig, and they had to admit that Hicks seemed to go down well with the young women in the audience. Two minor music industry people, Bill Varley and Roy Tuvey, agreed to manage Hicks, but they decided that they needed someone involved who would be able to publicise Hicks, so they invited John Kennedy, a PR man from New Zealand, to come to the 2is to see him. Hicks wasn't actually playing the 2is the night in question – it was the Vipers, who were just on the verge of getting signed and recording their first single: [Excerpt: The Vipers Skiffle Group, “Ain't You Glad?”] While Hicks wasn't scheduled to play, at the request of Varley and Tuvey he jumped on stage when the Vipers took a break, and sang a song that he, Bart, and Pratt had written, called "Rock With the Caveman". Kennedy was impressed. He was impressed enough, in fact, that he brought in a friend, Larry Parnes, who would go on to become the most important manager in British rock and roll in the fifties and early sixties. Kennedy, Parnes, and Hicks cut Varley and Tuvey out altogether -- to the extent that neither of them are even mentioned in the version of this story in Tommy Steele's autobiography. Hicks was renamed Tommy Steele, in a nod to his paternal grandfather Thomas Stil-Hicks (the Stil in that name is spelled either Stil or Stijl, depending on which source you believe) and Parnes would go on to name a whole host of further rock stars in a similar manner -- Duffy Power, Johnny Gentle, Billy Fury, Marty Wilde. They had everything except a record contract, but that was why Kennedy was there. Kennedy rented a big house, and hired a load of showgirls, models, and sex workers to turn up for a party and bring their boyfriends. They were to dress nicely, talk in fake posh accents, and if anyone asked who they were they were to give fake double-barrelled names. He then called the press and said it was "the first high society rock and roll show" and that the girls were all debutantes. The story made the newspapers, and got Steele national attention. Steele was signed by Decca records, where Hugh Mendl, the producer of "Rock Island Line", was so eager to sign him that he didn't check if any studios were free for his audition, and so Britain's first homegrown rock idol auditioned for his record contract in the gents' toilets. A bunch of slumming jazz musicians, including Dave Lee, the pianist with the Dankworth band, and the legendary saxophone player Ronnie Scott, were brought in to record "Rock With the Caveman": [Excerpt: Tommy Steele, "Rock With the Caveman"] The single went to number thirteen. Tommy Steele was now a bona fide rock and roll star, at least in the UK. The next record, "Elevator Rock", didn't do so well, however: [Excerpt: Tommy Steele, "Elevator Rock"] That failed to chart, so Steele's producers went for the well-worn trick in British record making of simply copying a US hit. Guy Mitchell had just released "Singing the Blues": [Excerpt: Guy Mitchell, "Singing the Blues"] That was actually a cover version of a recording by Marty Robbins from earlier in the year, but Mitchell's version was the one that became the big hit. And Steele was brought into the studio to record a soundalike version, and hopefully get it out before Mitchell's version hit the charts. Steele's version has an identical arrangement and sound to Mitchell's, except that Steele sings it in an incredibly mannered Elvis impression: [Excerpt: Tommy Steele, "Singing the Blues"] Now, to twenty-first century ears, Steele's version is clearly inferior. But here was the birth of something particularly English -- and indeed something particularly London -- in rock and roll music. The overly mannered, music-hall inspired, Cockneyfied impression of an American singing style. On Steele's subsequent tour, a nine-year old kid called David Jones, who would later change his name to Bowie, went to see him and came away inspired to become a rock and roll star. And we can hear in this performance the roots of Bowie's own London take on Elvis, as we can also hear a style that would be taken up by Anthony Newley, Ray Davies, and many more masters of Cockney archness. I don't think "Singing the Blues" is a particularly good record compared to Mitchell's, but it is a prototype for something that would become good, and it deserves recognition for that. Mitchell's version got out first, and went to the top of the charts, with Steele's following close behind, but then for one week Mitchell's record label had a minor distribution problem, and Steele took over the top spot, before Mitchell's record returned to number one the next week. Tommy Steele had become the first British rock and roll singer to get to number one in the UK charts. It would be the only time he would do so, but it was enough. He was a bona fide teen idol. He was so big, in fact, that even his brother, Colin Hicks, became a minor rock and roll star himself off the back of his brother's success: [Excerpt: Colin Hicks and the Cabin Boys, "Hollering and Screaming"] The drummer on that record, Jimmy Nicol, later had his fifteen minutes of fame when Ringo Starr got tonsilitis just before a tour of Australia, and for a few shows Nicol got to be a substitute Beatle. Very soon, Tommy Steele moved on into light entertainment. First he moved into films -- starting with "The Tommy Steele Story", a film based on his life, for which he, Bart, and Pratt wrote all twelve of the songs in a week to meet the deadline, and then he went into stage musicals. Within a year, he had given up on rock and roll altogether. But rock and roll hadn't *quite* given up on him. While Steele was appearing in stage musicals, one was also written about him -- a hurtful parody of his life, which he claimed later he'd wanted to sue over. In Expresso Bongo, a satire of the British music industry, Steele was parodied as "Bongo Herbert", who rises to fame with no talent whatsoever. That stage musical was then rewritten for a film version, with the satire taken out of it, so it was a straight rags-to-riches story. It was made into a vehicle for another singer who had been a regular at the 2is, and whose backing band was made up of former members of the Vipers Skiffle Group: [Excerpt: Cliff Richard, "Love" (from Expresso Bongo)] We'll talk about both Cliff Richard and the Shadows in future episodes though... Tommy Steele would go on to become something of a national treasure, working on stage with Gene Kelly and on screen with Fred Astaire, writing several books, having a minor artistic career as a sculptor, and touring constantly in pantomimes and musicals. At age eighty-two he still tours every year, performing as Scrooge in a stage musical version of A Christmas Carol. His 1950s hits remain popular enough in the UK that a compilation of them went to number twenty-two in the charts in 2009. He may not leave a large body of rock and roll work, but without him, there would be no British rock and roll industry as we know it, and the rest of this history would be very different.
Welcome to episode forty-eight of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs. This one looks at “Rock With the Caveman” by Tommy Steele, and the birth of the British rock and roll industry. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a bonus episode available. This one’s on “The Death of Rock and Roll” by the Maddox Brothers and Rose, in which we look at a country group some say invented rock & roll, and how they reacted badly to it —-more—- Resources As always, I’ve created a Mixcloud streaming playlist with full versions of all the songs in the episode. This double-CD set contains all Steele’s rock and roll material, plus a selection of songs from the musicals he appeared in later. This MP3 compilation, meanwhile, contains a huge number of skiffle records and early British attempts at rock and roll, including Steele’s. Much of the music is not very good, but I can’t imagine a better way of getting an understanding of the roots of British rock. Pete Frame’s The Restless Generation is the best book available looking at British 50s rock and roll from a historical perspective. Billy Bragg’s Roots, Radicals, and Rockers: How Skiffle Changed the World is one of the best books I’ve read on music at all, and covers Steele from the skiffle perspective. Fings Ain’t What They Used T’Be: The Life of Lionel Bart by David & Caroline Stafford gave me a lot of information on Steel’s songwriting partner. Steele’s autobiography, Bermondsey Boy, covers his childhood and early stardom. I am not 100% convinced of its accuracy, but it’s an entertaining book, and if nothing else probably gives a good idea of the mental atmosphere in the poor parts of South London in the war and immediate post-war years. And George Melly’s Revolt Into Style was one of the first books to take British pop culture seriously, and puts Steele into a wider context of British pop, both music and art. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript Let’s talk a little bit about the Piltdown Man. Piltdown Man was an early example of a hominid — a missing link between the apes and humans. Its skull was discovered in 1912 in Piltdown, East Sussex, by the eminent archaeologist Charles Dawson, and for years was considered one of the most important pieces of evidence in the story of human evolution. And then, in 1953, it was discovered that the whole thing was a hoax, and not even a particularly good one. Someone had just taken the jaw of an orang-utan and the top part of a human skull, and filed down the orang-utan teeth, and then stained the bones to make them look old. It was almost certainly the work of Dawson himself, who seems to have spent his entire life making fraudulent discoveries. Dawson had died decades earlier, and the full extent of his fraud wasn’t even confirmed until 2003. Sometimes researching the history of rock and roll can be a lot like that. You can find a story repeated in numerous apparently reliable books, and then find out that it’s all based on the inaccurate testimony of a single individual. The story never happened. It was just something someone made up. [Excerpt: “Rock With the Caveman”, Tommy Steele and the Steelmen] We talked a little while ago about the skiffle movement, and the first British guitar-based pop music. Today, we’re going to look at the dawn of British rock and roll. Now, there’s an important thing to note about the first wave of British rock and roll, and that is that it was, essentially, a music that had no roots in the culture. It was an imitation of American music, without any of the ties to social issues that made the American music so interesting. Britain in the 1950s was a very different place to the one it is today, or to America. It was ethnically extremely homogeneous, as the waves of immigration that have so improved the country had only just started. And while few people travelled much outside their own immediate areas, it was culturally more homogeneous as well, as Britain, unlike America, had a national media rather than a local one. In Britain, someone could become known throughout the country before they’d played their second gig, if they got the right media exposure. And so British rock and roll started out at the point that American rock and roll was only just starting to get to — a clean-cut version of the music, with little black influence or sexuality left in it, designed from the outset to be a part of mainstream showbusiness aimed at teenagers, not music for an underclass or a racial or sexual minority. Britain’s first rock and roll star put out his first record in November 1956, and by November 1957 he was appearing on the Royal Variety Show, with Mario Lanza, Bob Monkhouse, and Vera Lynn. That is, fundamentally, what early British rock and roll was. Keep that in mind for the rest of the story, as we look at how a young sailor from a dirt-poor family became Britain’s first teen idol. To tell that story, we first have to discuss the career of the Vipers Skiffle Group. That was the group’s full name, and they were just about the most important British group of the mid-fifties, even though they were never as commercially successful as some of the acts we’ve looked at. The name of the Vipers Skiffle Group was actually the first drug reference in British pop music. They took the name from the autobiography of the American jazz clarinettist Mezz Mezzrow — a man who was better known in the jazz community as a dope dealer than as a musician; so much so that “Mezz” itself became slang for marijuana, while “viper” became the name for dope smokers, as you can hear in this recording by Stuff Smith, in which he sings that he “dreamed about a reefer five foot long/Mighty Mezz but not too strong”. [Excerpt: Stuff Smith, “You’se a Viper”] So when Wally Whyton, Johnny Booker, and Jean Van Den Bosch formed a guitar trio, they chose that name, even though as it turned out none of them actually smoked dope. They just thought it sounded cool. They started performing at a cafe called the 2is (two as in the numeral, I as in the letter), and started to build up something of a reputation — to the point that Lonnie Donegan started nicking their material. Whyton had taken an old sea shanty, “Sail Away Ladies”, popularised by the country banjo player Uncle Dave Macon, and rewritten it substantially, turning it into “Don’t You Rock Me Daddy-O”. Donegan copyrighted Whyton’s song as soon as he heard it, and rushed out his version of it, but the Vipers put out their own version too, and the two chased each other up the charts. Donegan’s charted higher, but the Vipers ended up at a respectable number ten: [Excerpt: The Vipers, “Don’t You Rock Me, Daddy-O”] That recording was on Parlophone records, and was produced by a young producer who normally did comedy and novelty records, named George Martin. We’ll be hearing more about him later on. But at the time we’re talking about, the Vipers had not yet gained a recording contract, and they were still playing the 2is. Occasionally, they would be joined on stage by a young acquaintance named Thomas Hicks. Hicks was a merchant seaman, and was away at sea most of the time, and so was never a full part of the group, but even though he didn’t care much for skiffle — he was a country and western fan first and foremost — he played guitar, and in Britain in 1955 and 56, if you played guitar, you played skiffle. Hicks had come from an absolutely dirt-poor background. Three of his siblings had died at cruelly young ages, and young Thomas himself had had several brushes with ill health, which meant that while he was a voracious reader he had lacked formal education. He had wanted to be a performer from a very early age, and had developed a routine that he used to do around the pubs in his early teens, in which he would mime to a record by Danny Kaye, “Knock on Wood”: [Excerpt: Danny Kaye, “Knock on Wood”] But at age fifteen he had joined the Merchant Navy. This isn’t the same thing as the Royal Navy, but rather is the group of commercial shipping companies that provide non-military shipping, and Hicks worked as wait staff on a cruise ship making regular trips to America. On an early trip, he fell in love with the music of Hank Williams, who would remain a favourite of his for the rest of his life, and he particularly loved the song “Kaw-Liga”: [Excerpt: Hank Williams, “Kaw-Liga”] Hicks replaced his old party piece of miming to Danny Kaye with a new one of singing “Kaw-Liga”, with accompaniment from anyone he could persuade to play guitar for him. Eventually one of his crewmates taught him how to play the song himself, and he started performing with pick-up groups, singing Hank Williams songs, whenever he was on shore leave in the UK. And when he couldn’t get a paid gig he’d head to the 2is and sing with the Vipers. But then came the event that changed his life. Young Tommy Hicks, with his love of country music, was delighted when on shore leave in 1955 to see an advert for a touring show based on the Grand Ole Opry, in Norfolk Virginia, where he happened to be. Of course he went along, and there he saw something that made a huge impression. One of the acts in the middle of the bill was a young man who wore horn-rimmed glasses. Tommy still remembers the details to this day. The young man came out and did a three-song set. The first song was a standard country song, but the second one was something else; something that hit like a bolt of lightning: [Excerpt: Buddy Holly, “Peggy Sue”] That song was young Thomas Hicks’ introduction to the new music called rock and roll, and nothing would ever be the same for him ever again after seeing Buddy Holly sing “Peggy Sue”. By February 1956 he had finished working on the cruise ships, and was performing rock and roll in London, the very first British rock and roller. Except… There’s a reason why we’re covering Tommy Steele *before* Buddy Holly, the man who he claims as his inspiration. Buddy Holly *did* perform with a Grand Ole Opry tour. But it didn’t tour until May 1956, three months after Thomas Hicks quit his job on the cruise ships, and about a year after the time Tommy claims to have seen him. That tour only hit Oklahoma, which is landlocked, and didn’t visit Norfolk Virginia. According to various timelines put together by people like the Buddy Holly Centre in Lubbock Texas, Holly didn’t perform outside Lubbock until that tour, and that’s the only time he did perform outside West Texas until 1957. Also, Buddy Holly didn’t meet Peggy Sue Gerron, the woman who gave the song its name, until 1956, and the song doesn’t seem to have been written until 1957. So whatever it was that introduced young Tommy Hicks to the wonders of rock and roll, it wasn’t seeing Buddy Holly sing “Peggy Sue” in Norfolk Virginia in 1955. But that’s the story that’s in his autobiography, and that’s the story that’s in every other source I’ve seen on the subject, because they’re all just repeating what he said, on the assumption that he’d remember something like that, something which was so important in his life and future career. Remember what I said at the beginning, about rock and roll history being like dealing with Piltdown Man? Yeah. There are a lot of inaccuracies in the life story of Thomas Hicks, who became famous under the name Tommy Steele. Anything I tell you about him is based on information he put out, and that information is not always the truth, so be warned. For example, when he started his career, he claimed he’d worked his way up on the cruise ships to being a gymnastics instructor — something that the shipping federation denied to the press. You find a lot of that kind of thing when you dig into Steele’s stories. In fact, by the time Hicks started performing, there had already been at least one British rock and roll record made. He wasn’t bringing something new that he’d discovered in America at all. “Rock Around the Clock”, the Bill Haley film, had played in UK cinemas at around the time of Hicks’ supposed epiphany, and it had inspired a modern jazz drummer, Tony Crombie, to form Tony Crombie and the Rockets and record a Bill Haley soundalike called “Teach You To Rock”: [Excerpt: Tony Crombie and the Rockets, “Teach You To Rock”] However, Crombie was not teen idol material — a serious jazz drummer in his thirties, he soon went back to playing bebop, and has largely been written out of British rock history since, in favour of Tommy Steele as the first British rock and roller. Thomas Hicks the merchant seaman became Tommy Steele the pop idol as a result of a chance meeting. Hicks went to a party with a friend, and the host was a man called Lionel Bart, who was celebrating because he’d just sold his first song, to the bandleader Bill Cotton. No recording of that song seems to exist, but the lyrics to the song — a lament about the way that old-style cafes were being replaced by upscale coffee bars — are quoted in a biography of Bart: “Oh for a cup of tea, instead of a cuppuchini/What would it mean to me, just one little cup so teeny!/You ask for some char and they reckon you’re barmy/Ask for a banger, they’ll give you salami/Oh for the liquid they served in the Army/Just a cup of tea!” Heartrending stuff, I’m sure you’ll agree. But Bart was proud of the twenty-five guineas the song had earned him, and so he was having a party. Bart was at the centre of a Bohemian crowd in Soho, and the party was held at a squat where Bart, a card-carrying member of the Communist Party, spent most of his time. At that squat at various times around this period lived, among others, the playwright John Antrobus, the actor Shirley Eaton, who would later become famous as the woman painted gold in the beginning of Goldfinger, and the great folk guitarist Davey Graham, who would later become famous for his instrumental, “Angi”: [Excerpt: Davey Graham, “Angi”] We’ll hear more about Graham in future episodes. Another inhabitant of the squat was Mike Pratt, a guitarist and pianist who would later turn to acting and become famous as Jeff Randall in the fantasy detective series Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased). Hicks, Bart, and Pratt started collaborating on songs together — Hicks would bring in a basic idea, and then Bart would write the lyrics and Pratt the music. They also performed as The Cavemen, though Bart soon tired of playing washboard and stuck to writing. The Cavemen became a floating group of musicians, centred around Hicks and Pratt, and with various Vipers and other skifflers pulled in as and when they were available. The various skiffle musicians looked down on Hicks, because of his tendency to want to play “Heartbreak Hotel” or “Blue Suede Shoes” rather than “Bring a Little Water Sylvie” or “Rock Island Line”, but a gig was a gig, and they had to admit that Hicks seemed to go down well with the young women in the audience. Two minor music industry people, Bill Varley and Roy Tuvey, agreed to manage Hicks, but they decided that they needed someone involved who would be able to publicise Hicks, so they invited John Kennedy, a PR man from New Zealand, to come to the 2is to see him. Hicks wasn’t actually playing the 2is the night in question – it was the Vipers, who were just on the verge of getting signed and recording their first single: [Excerpt: The Vipers Skiffle Group, “Ain’t You Glad?”] While Hicks wasn’t scheduled to play, at the request of Varley and Tuvey he jumped on stage when the Vipers took a break, and sang a song that he, Bart, and Pratt had written, called “Rock With the Caveman”. Kennedy was impressed. He was impressed enough, in fact, that he brought in a friend, Larry Parnes, who would go on to become the most important manager in British rock and roll in the fifties and early sixties. Kennedy, Parnes, and Hicks cut Varley and Tuvey out altogether — to the extent that neither of them are even mentioned in the version of this story in Tommy Steele’s autobiography. Hicks was renamed Tommy Steele, in a nod to his paternal grandfather Thomas Stil-Hicks (the Stil in that name is spelled either Stil or Stijl, depending on which source you believe) and Parnes would go on to name a whole host of further rock stars in a similar manner — Duffy Power, Johnny Gentle, Billy Fury, Marty Wilde. They had everything except a record contract, but that was why Kennedy was there. Kennedy rented a big house, and hired a load of showgirls, models, and sex workers to turn up for a party and bring their boyfriends. They were to dress nicely, talk in fake posh accents, and if anyone asked who they were they were to give fake double-barrelled names. He then called the press and said it was “the first high society rock and roll show” and that the girls were all debutantes. The story made the newspapers, and got Steele national attention. Steele was signed by Decca records, where Hugh Mendl, the producer of “Rock Island Line”, was so eager to sign him that he didn’t check if any studios were free for his audition, and so Britain’s first homegrown rock idol auditioned for his record contract in the gents’ toilets. A bunch of slumming jazz musicians, including Dave Lee, the pianist with the Dankworth band, and the legendary saxophone player Ronnie Scott, were brought in to record “Rock With the Caveman”: [Excerpt: Tommy Steele, “Rock With the Caveman”] The single went to number thirteen. Tommy Steele was now a bona fide rock and roll star, at least in the UK. The next record, “Elevator Rock”, didn’t do so well, however: [Excerpt: Tommy Steele, “Elevator Rock”] That failed to chart, so Steele’s producers went for the well-worn trick in British record making of simply copying a US hit. Guy Mitchell had just released “Singing the Blues”: [Excerpt: Guy Mitchell, “Singing the Blues”] That was actually a cover version of a recording by Marty Robbins from earlier in the year, but Mitchell’s version was the one that became the big hit. And Steele was brought into the studio to record a soundalike version, and hopefully get it out before Mitchell’s version hit the charts. Steele’s version has an identical arrangement and sound to Mitchell’s, except that Steele sings it in an incredibly mannered Elvis impression: [Excerpt: Tommy Steele, “Singing the Blues”] Now, to twenty-first century ears, Steele’s version is clearly inferior. But here was the birth of something particularly English — and indeed something particularly London — in rock and roll music. The overly mannered, music-hall inspired, Cockneyfied impression of an American singing style. On Steele’s subsequent tour, a nine-year old kid called David Jones, who would later change his name to Bowie, went to see him and came away inspired to become a rock and roll star. And we can hear in this performance the roots of Bowie’s own London take on Elvis, as we can also hear a style that would be taken up by Anthony Newley, Ray Davies, and many more masters of Cockney archness. I don’t think “Singing the Blues” is a particularly good record compared to Mitchell’s, but it is a prototype for something that would become good, and it deserves recognition for that. Mitchell’s version got out first, and went to the top of the charts, with Steele’s following close behind, but then for one week Mitchell’s record label had a minor distribution problem, and Steele took over the top spot, before Mitchell’s record returned to number one the next week. Tommy Steele had become the first British rock and roll singer to get to number one in the UK charts. It would be the only time he would do so, but it was enough. He was a bona fide teen idol. He was so big, in fact, that even his brother, Colin Hicks, became a minor rock and roll star himself off the back of his brother’s success: [Excerpt: Colin Hicks and the Cabin Boys, “Hollering and Screaming”] The drummer on that record, Jimmy Nicol, later had his fifteen minutes of fame when Ringo Starr got tonsilitis just before a tour of Australia, and for a few shows Nicol got to be a substitute Beatle. Very soon, Tommy Steele moved on into light entertainment. First he moved into films — starting with “The Tommy Steele Story”, a film based on his life, for which he, Bart, and Pratt wrote all twelve of the songs in a week to meet the deadline, and then he went into stage musicals. Within a year, he had given up on rock and roll altogether. But rock and roll hadn’t *quite* given up on him. While Steele was appearing in stage musicals, one was also written about him — a hurtful parody of his life, which he claimed later he’d wanted to sue over. In Expresso Bongo, a satire of the British music industry, Steele was parodied as “Bongo Herbert”, who rises to fame with no talent whatsoever. That stage musical was then rewritten for a film version, with the satire taken out of it, so it was a straight rags-to-riches story. It was made into a vehicle for another singer who had been a regular at the 2is, and whose backing band was made up of former members of the Vipers Skiffle Group: [Excerpt: Cliff Richard, “Love” (from Expresso Bongo)] We’ll talk about both Cliff Richard and the Shadows in future episodes though… Tommy Steele would go on to become something of a national treasure, working on stage with Gene Kelly and on screen with Fred Astaire, writing several books, having a minor artistic career as a sculptor, and touring constantly in pantomimes and musicals. At age eighty-two he still tours every year, performing as Scrooge in a stage musical version of A Christmas Carol. His 1950s hits remain popular enough in the UK that a compilation of them went to number twenty-two in the charts in 2009. He may not leave a large body of rock and roll work, but without him, there would be no British rock and roll industry as we know it, and the rest of this history would be very different.
Episode 170 is Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) 2000 Private eyes Randall and Hopkirk are investigating two-timing husband Kenneth Crisby as Marty Hopkirk prepares for his marriage to Jeannie Hurst. Performance artist Gordon Stylus also seeks their help as he believes his wife Annette Stylus is suicidal. Marty is killed when a car, apparently driven by Annette Stylus , sweeps them both over a cliff. Marty's ghost comes to Jeff Randall, he wants to know killed him and why.
For the first time in their long and illustrious partnership, Dave and Ian record together in the same room as they begin watching a new show: Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased). In "Drop Dead," private detectives Jeff Randall and Marty Hopkirk are hired by an artist to protect his wife from herself, but when Marty is seemingly killed by her he comes back as a ghost, visible only to Jeff, in order to solve his own murder. In "Mental Apparition Disorder," Jeff is checked into a therapy center after telling Marty's finance, Jeanie, that Marty is a ghost. Meanwhile Marty is trained to be a ghost by the mysterious Mr. Wyvern. Finally, in "The Best Years of Your Death," Jeanie's nephew tells her something sinister is going on at his boarding school, so she and Jeff go undercover to discover the truth, and Wyvern teaches Marty possession. They make lots of Doctor Who connections, ask if Steven Berkov is locked in a cupboard, and Dave has an unfortunate chair incident.
For the first time in their long and illustrious partnership, Dave and Ian record together in the same room as they begin watching a new show: Randall and Hopkirk. In "Drop Dead," private detectives Jeff Randall and Marty Hopkirk are hired by an artist to protect his wife from herself, but when Marty is seemingly killed by her he comes back as a ghost, visible only to Jeff, in order to solve his own murder. In "Mental Apparition Disorder," Jeff is checked into a therapy center after telling Marty's finance, Jeanie, that Marty is a ghost. Meanwhile Marty is trained to be a ghost by the mysterious Mr. Wyvern. Finally, in "The Best Years of Your Death," Jeanie's nephew tells her something sinister is going on at his boarding school, so she and Jeff go undercover to discover the truth, and Wyvern teaches Marty possession. They make lots of Doctor Who connections, ask if Steven Berkov is locked in a cupboard, and Dave has an unfortunate chair incident.
For the first time in their long and illustrious partnership, Dave and Ian record together in the same room as they begin watching a new show: Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased). In "Drop Dead," private detectives Jeff Randall and Marty Hopkirk are hired by an artist to protect his wife from herself, but when Marty is seemingly killed by her he comes back as a ghost, visible only to Jeff, in order to solve his own murder. In "Mental Apparition Disorder," Jeff is checked into a therapy center after telling Marty's finance, Jeanie, that Marty is a ghost. Meanwhile Marty is trained to be a ghost by the mysterious Mr. Wyvern. Finally, in "The Best Years of Your Death," Jeanie's nephew tells her something sinister is going on at his boarding school, so she and Jeff go undercover to discover the truth, and Wyvern teaches Marty possession. They make lots of Doctor Who connections, ask if Steven Berkov is locked in a cupboard, and Dave has an unfortunate chair incident.
For the first time in their long and illustrious partnership, Dave and Ian record together in the same room as they begin watching a new show: Randall and Hopkirk. In "Drop Dead," private detectives Jeff Randall and Marty Hopkirk are hired by an artist to protect his wife from herself, but when Marty is seemingly killed by her he comes back as a ghost, visible only to Jeff, in order to solve his own murder. In "Mental Apparition Disorder," Jeff is checked into a therapy center after telling Marty's finance, Jeanie, that Marty is a ghost. Meanwhile Marty is trained to be a ghost by the mysterious Mr. Wyvern. Finally, in "The Best Years of Your Death," Jeanie's nephew tells her something sinister is going on at his boarding school, so she and Jeff go undercover to discover the truth, and Wyvern teaches Marty possession. They make lots of Doctor Who connections, ask if Steven Berkov is locked in a cupboard, and Dave has an unfortunate chair incident.
Jeff Randall shares how he went to construct a building but walked away a missionary.
June 14th, 2017 The Program joined Nate Bukaty from the grand opening of the new location of the Sports Medicine and Performance Center at the University of Kansas Health System.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The leadership of the ITS state chapters in Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey held their first coordination meeting last week at the World Trade Center in New York City. The gathering, hosted by the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, provided an opportunity to look at what the three state chapters are already doing and opportunities for future collaboration.
Waffle On about Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) Hello and welcome to this months episode in which Meds and Kell talk over Skype (sorry but it was either that or no show this month) about the classic detective series Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased). Made in 1969 and coming in at 26 episodes this series tells the tale of Marty Hopkirk coming back from the dead as a ghost and helping his old partner Jeff Randall solve crimes. As usual we play the classic theme tune, and a surprise theme at the end of the show. Again apologies for the sound quality but Skype can be a bit hit and miss. Thanks for listening and we'll see you next month for our May episode. We have a Facebook group page if you would like to join (remember to turn off notifications if you don't want to be bombarded by posts etc) you can find that here https://www.facebook.com/groups/waffleon/
Having just recently re-edited and re-mixed Show #001, it's become glaringly obvious that the biggest difference between those early shows and these most-recent shows is that things have gotten a lot more relaxed around here. Not to say that the early shows were bad, but though my stated desire was always to produce a very relaxed and organic show, there was much more of a reluctance to let go of the reigns of the conversation in those shows and let the topic veer off of the local music scene. With the last 30 or 40 episodes, that's been less and less of an issue, and now with Show #099, I'm pretty much encouraging it. Maybe it's because I had some great results early on with interviews by Shadyside All-Stars, The John Stockton Project, Borrow Tomorrow, and Precore, but mostly it's because, after five years of doing this, you can only ask the same stock questions over and over so many times before everything sort of jumbles together in your head and everyone starts losing their individuality. While most bands have had the same experiences trying to make it in an under-appreciated, underrated niche like local, original music, they all have a unique voice and personality. Sometimes you can find this personality quickly; sometimes it doesn't seem to be there at all.There is no problem pegging the personality for Jeff Randall and the Sunday Best. This week's guests come to us courtesy of Mr. Cootie Crabtree (and ), who was scheduled to be my co-host this week, but backed out at the last minute because he was afraid his kids would be screaming and making a scene during the recording of the show. (As it is, that's my "Lil' Q" attempting to conduct an interview and playing an impromptu piano concert of her own with the unheard audience members who traveled into town with Jeff and the boys.) Fortunately, these seasoned rockers took everything in stride, and after a few beers we were off into uncharted realms of conversation. In addition you'll hear four great tracks of kick-ass rock and roll played the way only veteran bands from the heartland seem to be playing it these days: raw and raunchy. I'm not sure if the format of the next 100 shows will follow the natural progression that has led us here, or if I will rise to the challenge and attempt to make slightly more drastic changes to the podcast, but I think we're headed in the right direction, anyway. Links referenced in the show: Jeff Randall and the Sunday Best can be found here: | | | The music you heard on this episode is from their album "Number 1," available at the usual suspects | | | Learn more about David Bowie, his ocular issues, and his views on copyright . I reference the a couple of times during the interview, as well as the album . Does anybody remember and ? What ever happened to the -- discounting the movie ? The guys are big fans of the . RIAA blames everyone but themselves for the fact that music sucks. Learn more about the career of the ubiquitous Jeff "Skunk" Baxter . Is Paul Dead? seems to imply he is. has many things to offer, but a music scene is not one of them.
Lots of fun in this week's episode, which will hopefully be as entertaining to listen to as it was to record. First off, it features the return of Cootie Crabtree, one of our more-popular guests, last seen a little over a year ago ... which in my book, isn't often enough. Second, it was recorded about twenty minutes after we recorded the all-star extravaganza that is Show #100 ... so the "tone" for the day had already been set when we drove down to meet Mr. Crabtree. Third, I had the improvisational comedic stylings of Mr. Pres Maxson in the co-host chair, which pretty much ads an element of randomness to any episode. Fourth, we feature, for the first time, a live on-podcast performance by our guest ... something I'd always wanted to do, but have generally shied away from out of fear of not doing justice to the guest from an audio quality standpoint (I record one-channel mono with 2-6 microphones, so leveling and mixing is generally done by moving mics closer and further away from people while they talk). Fifth, we had an audience, which is always fun and adds air of excitement to any show. And, finally, sixth, there were whiskey shots involved. Only a handful of times have I deviated from lite beer while recording, and the results have been mixed at best. There is a lot of trepidation when going back and editing a show -- in this case about half of the raw material was cut strictly for time reasons -- when you don't remember what the heck you talked about in the first place. I could go on for a few more paragraphs about what a fantastic musician and all-around great guy Cootie Crabtree is, but his body of work, which includes collaborations with and guest appearances by nearly the entire central Indiana roots/folk/Americana scene more than speaks for itself -- a favor he generously attempts to return in this interview by giving props to everyone in the local music scene and one point or another -- thus, giving me by far the longest set of show notes I've ever had to put together. A dynamic songwriter, distinct vocalist, born showman, and gifted player, you can be guaranteed an evening of great music and fun any time you see his name on a bill. Links referenced in the show: Coot Crabtree can be found here: | | . Cootie last appeared on . Co-Host, Pres Maxson can be found here: | | | . Pres has previously appeared on and as a guest, as a co-host, and as a guest host. Look for him again on Show #100. Cootie was originally the host of the , Wednesday nights at 8:30 on . That role has since passed to Andrew Funke and Tim Plunkett of the Rhinestones ( | ). At the time it was sponsored by . Cootie has been known to perform songs written by his friends , , and (guest on and hopefully returning in the very near future) . You can hear 's long-faded Crabtree's Trunk podcast . Scott has a wonderful band called Strawboss Union ( | ), which though we pronounced it dead during the show, we will learn in our next episode (#095 with Junk Box Mike) it is merely on hiatus. Cootie is a regular at the in , thanks to his friends Jeff Randall and the Sunday Best ( | | ), who we hope to have on in the near future when Cootie does his "Artists Present Artists" episode for us. Cootie generally appears with the Rinestones and the Payton Brothers ( | ) as his backup band. He is currently working with Steve Smith ( | ) who appeared on with Fernhead ( | | | ) and who hosts the open mic night at in Greenwood, Indiana. Fernhead also features Jacob "Conga J" Guinnup ( | | ) who recently produced a . January Postcards was originally done for Kevin Phillips' / 's Christmas compilation album, , in support of . Kevin is also better known as the bartender at . Don't Blame your Baby on Me was recorded at SnapJoint Studios by Perry Stevens ( | ) who appeared on . Somehow the picture of Cootie's tattoo -- designed by Shelby Kelley ( | | ) -- was lost, however, it looks a lot like . He counts the in Shelbyville, Indiana as one of his favorite venues. He also is a fan of the in Bloomington and someday hopes to play . Our first ever (serious) live music recording features an impromptu lineup of Cootie, Tim Spainhower ( | | | | | ) on lead guitar, and Huck Finn ( | ) on percussion. Forty minutes of material was edited out of the original interview in order to get the show down to an hour. This features a round of Pres Maxson's signature game, "Which Beatle?" You can hear that unused excerpt . You can see Frank Zappa's referenced appearance on the Monkey's show . We recommend the album as one of his best. Special thanks to in Whiteland for their hospitality in hosting this episode.
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